An Angel Doesn't Belong in a Fruits Basket
by Da Games Elite
Summary: After a series of strange dreams, Tohru Honda and the Sohmas encounter several people, one by one, who claim to have come from a world destroyed by their own hands. Will these aliens to their world find happiness, or descend into chaos? TxK, AxS, MxK
1. Chapter 1

The following fanfiction is a crossover I feel was essentially a match made in Heaven: Fruits Basket and Evangelion. At first it seems like a very unlikely crossover. After all, one series is essentially a romantic comedy, while the other is a post-apocalyptic war. However, both stories use their plots as a catalyst for character development, showing characters with extremely tormented psyches and whatnot. In the end, however, the major difference lies in that Fruits Basket ends with their characters finding inner peace and joy, while Evangelion ends in the majority of the cast losing their minds. Without spoiling too much about the story, here we go.

An Angel Doesn't Belong in a Fruits Basket

**By Da Games Elite**

Part 1

The sound of the blood red waves pouring against the shore was hypnotic, melodic, as the seconds slowly dragged on into hours, timeless existence dying to give way to more timeless existence. The scene existed before her almost as though she were watching a movie. The sky was dark, a streak of blood splashing across the atmosphere, in front of the moon, like a ring around the planet. The beach was vacant, save for several grave markers, a small white cross nailed to one of them, the remains of a massive body in the distance, in pieces. A sickening head rotted until only half remained stared at her, its wide eye vacant and lifeless.

There were two figures lying on the sandy ground several yards away, a male and a girl. While the boy looked as though he were simply resting, the girl was in ghastly shape. Her arm was wrapped with bandages, as though it would fall apart if the straps were severed. Her eye was covered with a bandage, almost like an eye patch, as though it had been somehow removed or damaged. The boy turned his head, his eyes wide and frightened, his movements slow and surreal. For a second, a girl wearing a school uniform was visible on the sea of blood, but then, after blinking, she had disappeared into nothing, as though she were never there to begin with.

Rising to his feet, the boy noticed the girl as though this were the first time he had ever seen her, which perhaps was the case indeed. Slowly, he rose onto her torso, sitting down on top of it, before grabbing her neck by both hands, trying to squeeze the life out of her. His expression was vacant, his eyes slightly determined to watch the girl turn blue and die of suffocation. The girl didn't resist, but her eyes were full of sheer horror, of shock. Slowly, her movements weak and fragile, she stroked the boy across the cheek with her bandage hand. As though being awoken from a dark nightmare at the touch of the girl's gentle fingers, the boy slowly released the girl's throat as tears began to gush from his eyes. He broke down into tears as he fell onto the girl, as though knowing that he had just attempted to strangle this girl was too much for him to bare. As the seconds passed, the girl spoke a single word, in the darkest, cruelest, lowest voice she could muster.

"How disgusting."

It was then that Tohru Honda's eyes fluttered open, and the world of her dream dissolved into oblivion.

She ran a hand through her hair, sweat billowing on her brow. That dream had been so real, so vivid, so nightmarish. She had once read that dreams were the accumulation of whatever had happened during the day, like a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces being shoved together at the wrong points. Still, what could have happened today that would give her a dream so horrific, so disturbing, as that? Did she forget something? Perhaps she had seen a really scary movie commercial or something like that. Or maybe a mannequin or something to that effect? She didn't quite understand it herself, nor did she try to.

Pushing herself up, Tohru glanced at the clock. She was up a little earlier than she would have hoped, but she still ad enough time to go and cook breakfast. She dressed herself in her school uniform slowly, finding as she tried to button herself up that she was shivering. That dream, whatever it had been about, was so real, so vivid, so disturbing, so bone chilling. Surely it was just a nightmare, but it had been such a frightening nightmare.

As she descended the stairway, she found Shigure at his keyboard, typing his novel wildly. As she passed by his room, the novelist glanced up, an expression of mild surprise on his face. "Oh, Tohru, you're up earlier than usual. School doesn't start for another few hours. You sure you don't want to rest a little more?"

Blushing, Tohru waved away his concern. "No, don't worry. I just had a bad dream, and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I thought why not just try—"

"A bad dream, huh?" Shigure said, smiling, "Care to talk about it? Might help, you know."

"No, no, no! It wasn't that serious, I mean, it wasn't that bad of a dream. It's just I got woken up by it and couldn't go back to sleep. That's all. Really. It didn't bother me at all!"

"You're trembling, you know. And your face is pale. I can guess that dream startled you a good bit. Sure you don't want to talk about it?"

Tohru knew Shigure meant to help her, but she couldn't just tell him her dream. What if it bothered Shigure just as much as it bothered her? Or what if he thought she was unstable or dangerous for having such a crazy dream? After all, the dream had been absolutely insane. Bloody water? Beach? Strangling? Gigantic rotting head? It sounded like something out of a late night horror film gone horribly wrong.

"No, seriously, I'm fine. So don't worry."

Tohru went into the kitchen, preparing breakfast for the rest of the Sohma family. Her trembling hands made it incredibly difficult for her to even mix the ingredients, let alone prepare breakfast. The image of that poor girl being strangled, the boy breaking down in tears, of that mortifying landscape; the images couldn't get out of her head. Even as she was beating eggs, as she heard footsteps descending down to the ground floor, the image of that half decayed head, the eye gazing back at her, continued to invade her mind's eye.

"Miss Honda?" Yuki Sohma, the beautiful violet haired boy cursed by the rat emerged from behind her, a slight note of concern in his voice as he no doubt noticed Tohru's trembling knees. "Is something the matter? You seem a bit on edge."

"Oh, it's nothing. Nothing at all."

"Have a bad dream too?"

Tohru glanced over at Yuki, a slight look of relief on her face. So Yuki had had a bad dream too. Maybe it was just something they ate the night before, or something they saw together. Yes, they had to have seen some sort of scary movie on television last night that she had forgotten about, or perhaps repressed from her memory because of how frightening it was. Yeah, that had to be the case. After all, why else would two completely different people living together in the same house have a bad dream on the exact same night?

"Yeah, I even heard that stupid cat tossing and turning in his bed," Yuki said, sighing, gesturing toward the other tenant in the house's room, the crimson haired Kyo.

"Oh, really? Then it must have been something we saw together or something like that," Tohru said.

"Something we saw?" Yuki asked, slightly confused.

"Uh-huh! I heard that dreams tend to be—"

"What about dreams?" Kyo, the aforementioned crimson haired tenant, had emerged from the same doorway Yuki had come from, an exhausted expression on his face despite him just awakening from his slumber. Tohru felt her heart leap just at the sight of him, a smile crawling up her face. Still, he looked a little worse for wear at the moment.

"Morning, Kyo. Sleep well?"

"What the hell does it look like?" Kyo grumbled, collapsing into the nearest seat with his head hanging limply over his chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tohru mumbled, dejected, "Have a bad dream?"

"Apparently this stupid cat can't handle a nightmare like the rest of us can," Yuki said, sighing.

"Wait, what the hell do you mean by that, you stupid rat?" snapped Kyo.

"Both Tohru and Yuki seemed to have a nightmare, Kyo. It doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure that little brainteaser out." When and how Shigure had emerged into the room may forever remain a mystery, but it was impossible to deny that he was now sitting at the table, his arms folded and his head nodding as though he were some sort of authority figure.

"And just where the hell did you come from?" Kyo snapped, his eyes wide, his hair on end.

"Oh, me? I was simply voyaging through the pathways of creativity, trying to keep my poor little novel afloat in the sea of competition, when I happened to hear my dear little cousins had a few scary dreams that made them go bump in the night, and decided to play the responsible, older cousin in order to help them understand their occasionally confusing dreams for them."

"You've never been responsible in your entire life! And what the hell does that even mean, you stupid bastard?" Kyo snarled.

"Well, according to Freud, every single dream ends up meaning you want to have sex."

"You are a pervert!" snapped Kyo, aggressively.

"Miss Honda, I think the rice is starting to overflow."

After Tohru frantically put the finishing touches on breakfast, the four managed to finally sit down and eat breakfast. Naturally, Tohru was terrified at the prospect that the others might not approve of her cooking. Sure, she had been a little distracted, but even so, she didn't think that the rice would turn out slightly charred. However, no one made a comment about the food, although Shigure's expression while crunching down on the normally sticky and soft rice made it seem as though he were trying to munch on several rusty iron nails.

"So, Miss Honda, what exactly did you dream about last night that made you feel so afraid?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Please."

"Go on, please, tell us, Tohru. It might be a good thing to get it all off your chest," Shigure said.

"Well, maybe. It was about a beach. A really dark beach. And there were these graves all lined up on the side. One of them had a cross nailed to it. A white one, almost looked like a necklace of some kind. There were these body parts just lying on the beach—"

"Human body parts?" Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sort of, but they were huge white body parts, like the size of a skyscraper. Easily. I mean, one of the fingernails were probably bigger than the entire house." At this news, Yuki's face grew slightly troubled. Still, Tohru continued, "And there were two kids, probably a little younger than we are, on the beach. And one of them just got up on the other one, and started strangling her. But he stopped after a little while, and then she said something."

"What did she say?"

"'How disgusting.'"

"Wow, what a freakin' weird dream," Kyo sighed, shaking her head.

"Is it really?" Tohru stammered, frantically.

"Yes, but my dream wasn't too much better," Yuki replied, "It was really just about a blue haired girl. A naked blue haired girl."

"Oh, that doesn't sound like a nightmare at all," Shigure said, a smile on her lips. Naturally, Kyo's fist forced his head straight into his breakfast, at which he began to gag on his food.

"Idiot," Yuki mumbled, "Anyway, the girl then started growing. I mean, she began huge, like the size of a building. But it didn't stop there. She started growing larger and larger, until she was the size of a planet. And there was this little machine she held in her hands, or maybe it was a big machine that the girl dwarfed, and then I woke up."

"Wow, how anticlimactic," Shigure pouted, "Well then, Kyo, tell us your dream."

"Why should I?"

"Well, they say everything good comes in threes."

"Who the Hell says that?"

"Well, if you won't share your no doubt enlightening dream, I'll throw my two cents in. My dream was about melons!"

"You sick pervert!"

"Were they nice and round melons for eating?" Tohru asked, smiling.

"Yup. And this guy was watering them, a smile on his face," Shigure said, "He was probably a kindred soul."

"You mean he was also a freaking pervert?" Kyo snapped.

"Eh, possibly."

Breakfast passed, and soon the three children were off for school. As the group departed from the forest and entered the urban, city landscape, Tohru noticed something from the corner of her eye on the street before her. For a moment, she thought she saw a middle school girl with pale blue hair standing in the middle of the street in her school uniform. However, after blinking, Tohru found that the girl was gone, no longer there. Perhaps she had never been there at all.

#

Hatori Sohma was spending the morning in his office, slowly sipping his cup of tea, glancing out his window as he watched both Momiji and Hatsuharu leaving the Sohma grounds to go to their high school. Hatori grimaced as he remembered his high school, with Ayame and Shigure. He had put up a small frame recently in his bedroom of the three of them, but he wouldn't allow his office to have such a personal belonging. It would undermine his appearance.

As the hours passed, Hatori sat at his desk, handling the business of maintaining the Sohma family's health. However, something caught his eye at the eleventh hour of the day that would prevent him from continuing this task. A single, pale figure rising from his zen guarding, her arms wrapped around her naked body, before she crumpled to the ground, in painful, heavy sobs.

Hatori rushed from his desk, to the garden outside of his small domain. The girl laid there, her skin bare, her sheets of purple hair falling over her back, the only personal possession on her body a single necklace, a white cross at its end. Hatori extended his hand, trying to remain calm, as he gently prodded the woman, who had to be in her twenties. "Excuse me, miss. Miss. What are you doing here? This is private—"

"What's going on?"

"Excuse me?"

Glancing up to Hator, meeting his eyes, tears filling her own, she asked, gently, "What year is it."

"Uh, what year is it supposed to be?"

"Am I alive? Am I really alive?"

"What are you saying, miss?"

But the woman didn't seem to pay attention. She was staring at her hands, flexing each finger, a look of shocked jubilation in her eyes. Without warning, she turned around, and leapt against Hatori's chest, wrapping her arms around him in joy. Hatori's eyes widened as he felt his body change, transform in a puff of smoke into a seahorse. Although the woman's eyes betrayed a hint of shock, she then said, in an amused tone, "Well, I've certainly seen stranger things happen."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

"Hey, Tohru!" Uo called, waving over to her, relaxed and laid back, as Tohru entered the classroom, an expression of anxiety on her face. "Hey, what's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

"A ghost?" Maybe that was it. Maybe that had been who that strange girl with the blue hair was. The strange girl who had appeared for a moment in her dream. Or maybe she was jus still partially asleep, or maybe the world she inhabited at this second was really the dream and she still had to wake up. Yeah, that had to be it! She pinched her arm slightly, only to feel pain shoot up through her skin. "Guess that idea didn't work."

"What idea?"

"Tohru has seen something," Hana said, cryptically, "Something with the strangest electric signals I've ever picked up."

"Huh?" Uo replied, raising an eyebrow with slight confusion.

"So this isn't a dream?"

"Not even close," Hana said, a genuine look of anxiety crossing her usually aloof face, "I've never sensed anything quite like this."

"What is it? Is it one of those fanclub girls acting nutty again?"

Hana collapsed against the back of her seat, holding herself, as though to comfort her heart as it violently beat against the interior of her breast. Her breathes emerged as rattling, almost painful, wheezes, anxiety and fear constricting her lungs and her ability to therefore breathe. Turning to Uo and Tohru, she said, slowly, in anxiety sodden words, "Whatever this thing is, it isn't human."

"Not human?" Perhaps it was one of the Sohma Family. They weren't entirely human, right? They turned into animals, right? But Hana had sensed the Sohma Family before. Kyo and Yuki were in their classroom right now, weren't they? No, this had to be different. Perhaps there was another family with a different curse, one more dark and secret than the Sohma's curse? No, even that was farfetched. What could it be that would scare Hana, one of her closest friends, so much?

Later, at lunch, Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, and even Uo and Hana, the latter who insisted on staying at Tohru's side for "her own sake," ran into both Hatsuharu and Momiji, the underclassmen members of the Sohma Family, outside of the school. While Haru simply gestured in acknowledgement, a slight smile on his face, Momiji cheered, rushing toward Tohru, his arms outstretched, "Tohru! Hi!" Before he could reach Tohru, however, Kyo had slammed his knuckles against the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.

"What the hell is the matter with you!?" Kyo snapped, his voice loud and full of anger.

"Wah…Kyo hit me!" Momiji cried. Tohru, by this point, understood that Momiji's tears would no doubt dry after a moment or two, perhaps immediately after a pleasurable stimulus was introduced, but it still did pain her to see the poor Freshman in such a state as this.

"You deserve it, you little idiot!" Kyo snarled.

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Kyo," Momiji pouted.

"You are so full of it!"

"Momiji?"

"Yeah, Yuki?"

"Just why exactly are you holding a doll?"

Tohru glanced down at Momiji's arms. Sure enough, there, squeezed against his chest, was a doll. It wasn't a very expensive looking doll. It was made of fabric, no doubt filled with stuffing, with stringy hair, buttons for eyes, and a rather soft quality to it. Still, it was a rather cute doll in and of itself, despite being extremely dirty and weathered. "Aw, it's so cute," Tohru cued.

Kyo's eyes landed on the doll, and Tohru watched a change come over him. His eyes widened, sweat started billowing on his brow, as he extended a finger, and stroked the side of the doll, his finger trembling. In a shaky voice, he asked, anxiously, "Okay, where the hell did you find that doll, exactly?"

"On the street," Momiji replied, raising an eyebrow, "Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Kyo snapped, regaining his confidence, the fear dissolving.

"I think it's obvious. Kyo here is afraid of dolls, aren't you?" Haru said, a small, knowing grin on his lips.

"What? That's not it at all!" Kyo stammered, sputtering into to air, defensively.

"That's what it looks like from my angle," Haru replied, "You're one of those big tough guys who's afraid of a little doll, right?"

"No, this doll feels wrong," Hana interrupted, her body trembling.

"What do you mean?" Uo asked, a little anxiously.

"I mean that doll is giving off the similar electric signals to the ones I've been sensing all day. Except there is clear human residue on this one."

"How exactly can you tell?" Haru asked, curiously.

Glancing at Haru from the corner of her eye, she asked, gently yet menacingly, "Would you like to learn?"

"Uh, perhaps not."

Tohru stared at the doll, an expression of anxiety spread across her face. It just looked like an ordinary doll. Nothing special about it, nothing unique, if anything it was plain and extra ordinary. Still, Kyo's expression and Hana's proclamation created a rather insidious aura that engulfed the doll, making its innocent button eyes appear menacing, even threatening. Momiji dropped the doll, backing a few inches away from it, an expression of anxiety across his face.

"Kyo, do you sense it? The electric signals?" Hana asked.

"No, I just had a dream, and that freaky doll was in it," stammered Kyo.

"Oh, so that's what your nightmare was about. Dolls," Yuki replied, his eyes narrowed.

"It wasn't like that at all!"

"Tough guy, huh?" Uo asked, her face white but her voice cocky.

"Oh, just shut up already!"

Lunch ended after a little while. Momiji eventually couldn't resist taking the doll up by the arm, and bringing it to his locker, where he kept it gently on the shelf near the top. Tohru couldn't deny the doll was sort of cute looking, but by this point in time, the doll had started to creep her out. She didn't know why, or how, this was possible; the doll just scared her. Something about it. She took a quick trip to the bathroom once class was in session just to splash water against her face, to knock her out of her anxious daze. She was probably just anxious because of that dream she had, and then seeing that girl for a moment there. She had to snap out of it.

Glancing up at the mirror, she watched as the stall behind her opened up, slowly. She was not startled by this, despite the fact that she had thought she was alone in this bathroom. She bent over to splash more water onto her face, and, as she wiped it off with a towel, got a clear look at the occupant of the stall. A middle school girl, no doubt two years younger than Tohru, dressed in a uniform unlike her own, shaggy blue hair cut down at neck length, staring at her with expressionless, scarlet eyes. Tohru staggered around, turning toward the stall only to stare straight at nothing.

Tohru's chest was heaving, anxiety filling her body as she struggled to remain still. She was trembling so much, however, she fell to her knees. Just what was that? Was that some sort of ghost or phantom? She couldn't stop shivering. Rather, all she could do was stare at the door as it once again opened, slowly, as the blue haired girl emerged again, staring down at her with apathetic eyes.

"What is wrong?" the girl asked in a gentle, soft, yet emotionless voice. Tohru remained shivering on the floor, to scared to speak. "Why don't you respond? Say what you want to say?"

Finally Tohru managed to speak. "Who are you?"

"My name is Rei Ayanami."

"Rei?"

"That is correct."

"I saw you on the street before."

"That is also correct."

"Are you a ghost?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps I was born a ghost of something you could not understand."

"What do you mean?"

"Perhaps you were born a ghost too."

Tohru blinked, confused, but, in the moment her eyes reopened, she found that Rei's clothing had dissolved, leaving only an albino specter staring down at her, her eyes blacked over with small white dots in the center, a nightmarish, ghoulish grin on her lips, before this body crumbled to pieces, dissolving into white mist before hitting the floor.

Tohru shrieked in terror.

#

"Shigure, I need you to come over immediately."

Shigure sat at his desk, putting together the last instrument needed to torment his editor when she arrived that evening. Leaning the phone against his shoulder, he asked, curiously, "Right now, Hatori? I'm afraid I can't. Why don't you ask Ayame to—"

"He's already here."

"Oh, I see. Trying to get the Three—"

"Something has happened that takes priority over every ridiculous act of mischief you have to do right now."

Shigure chuckled. "That serious, huh? What is it?"

"I've found a woman naked in my garden."

"Oh! I see now. My little Hatori is finally growing up." Tears sprouted from Shigure's eyes as Hatori groaned on the other end of the line. "So when is the wedding?"

"There isn't going to be a wedding. I found her. Lying. In my Zen garden. Naked."

"You still use that term naked again, as though—"

"Use your head, Shigure. How would she get into even the Sohma Complex naked, let alone arrive on my Zen Garden, lie there, and then proceed to hug me in joy asking herself if she was alive or not?"

"Oh, I see. That does sound rather peculiar."

"Peculiar? Well, what she told me next is even more peculiar. She told me she came from another world."

"Is she by any chance schizophrenic?"

"Look, you're the creative novelist, right?"

"That's right."

"Then get over here and try talking to her. I'll be waiting. And hurry; she's drinking me out of house and home."

"Drinking?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

By the time Uo found Tohru in the bathroom, she had begun to cry to herself, alone, huddling up into a rather small ball as the image of that girl's head burned itself into the back of her retinas. Those black, empty eyes with the dot in the middle. The pale, empty skin without any pigmentation whatsoever. Just who was that girl? The one who called herself Rei Ayanami?

"Hana mentioned something about feeling weird waves," Uo said, holding Tohru in her embrace as they walked to the nurse's office, "What happened in there?"

Tohru couldn't speak. For one, the shock of seeing that nightmarish image had driven out her strength to form words, but beyond that, she was afraid of what Uo would say. After all, what would she think? How could she believe that she had just seen a girl crumble apart in front of her? Was Rei a ghost? A fiend? Tohru remembered that ghastly face from her dream, decaying before her. Was Rei that fiend, that decaying head on the bloody beach? Tohru felt as though she were going to vomit, felt sickness consume her torso as she struggled to remain erect.

Soon, she was lying comfortably on a hospital ward bed, the nurse making suggestions for her to just return home. However, Tohru refused. Her mother was depending on her to graduate High School, and even one day off would ruin everything! She couldn't just go ahead and ruin her dreams for her, even if she was no longer—no! She mustn't think that way. Her mother would always be with her, and right now, she didn't have time to be upset over something like that.

After a few hours, specifically until the end of the day, Tohru was allowed to leave the nurse's office, although she was still slightly in shock over what had happened earlier. Although Uo, Yuki, and Kyo were all concerned about Tohru's well being, Hana appeared the most concerned, asking Tohru the strangest questions regarding the incident. "What happened? What did you see? How did it feel? Were you frightened? How much so? What name did the entity give?"

And this was all before Tohru even implied she had seen someone.

"Cool it with the questions," Uo replied, mildly shocked.

"She's probably just too shocked to say anything at all," Yuki said, his voice strained with worry.

"Can't blame her," Kyo replied, frowning, "I mean, she just saw something. Don't know what the hell could make her so afraid, though. You see a ghost or—" Kyo stopped in his tracks so abruptly that the group, at first, didn't even realize he had stopped. Upon glancing into his eyes, one could see Kyo's face fill with sweat, his eyes wavering in their sockets, his breath rattling in his lungs, as though he were locking eyes with the dearly departed.

As raindrops started to fall from the sky, Tohru traced the angle of his view toward just what had startled him so greatly. He was staring at a girl, several yards away, hiding naked behind a bush. Although Tohru couldn't make out many things about the girl from her angle, she was able to make out a mane of scarlet hair, although even that was entangled within the leafy branches. Uo smirked. "You're a perv."

"What?" Kyo stammered, turning on Uo.

"You're just looking because she's naked, aren't you?" Uo laughed.

"Is anyone else in the least bit curious as to why she's naked in the first place?" Yuki asked, anxiously.

Hana stared anxiously at the figure, her breathing changing gradually as she took a few steps forward. The others started to glance after her, staring as she approached the naked figure. "Wait, Hana!" Tohru cried out, following her. Her hand wrapped around Hana's wrist, holding her back for a moment. "What's the matter, Hana?"

"That girl. Her electric signals." Hana was struggling to articulate herself, but Tohru was able to piece together her message. Was this girl, inside the bush, connected to Rei?

Tohru's grip slackened, and Hana broke free, growing closer to the red haired girl. The others followed her, Kyo in the lead. As they drew closer, new things became apparent about this child. For one, she wasn't Japanese at all. In fact, she looked German. Her scarlet red hair was entangled around the branches of the bush she was hiding behind, her arms hugging her knees to her bare breasts as she sobbed into herself, heavily. Hana reached out and poked her bare calf.

"Go away," she mumbled, her voice muted behind her flesh. She sounded young, like a middle school girl, but, like with that Rei girl, probably a good two years younger than Tohru. She certainly was developed, though. Her body was more akin to that of a Freshman's than an eighth grade student, with an hourglass figure and large breasts. Tohru wondered just how such a young girl could look like that. Maybe it was the European blood in her.

"Are you lost?" Tohru asked, anxiously.

"Go to hell."

"Now what kind of attitude is that?" Uo snapped.

"Hey, girl," Kyo mumbled, glancing down at her, "Are you upset?"

"No points for subtly," Yuki sighed.

"_Dummkopf_!" she snapped, hugging herself tighter than before, "What does it look like."

"Come on, get up," Kyo mumbled, kneeling down to her level, "You're going to get cold out here if you stay here too long."

"I don't care!"

"Just get up already. You're embarrassing yourself, and you aren't going to accomplish much, Asuka."

Asuka?

The girl glanced up at the sound of her name, revealing bloodshot, teary eyes. The moment Tohru's eyes came into contact with those two soft spheres, she felt somewhat at ease. Her angular face, beautiful by any ordinary standards, stared up at Kyo, an expression of confusion and bewilderment on her face. "How do you know my name, exactly?" she asked, in a high voice.

"Wait, you're white, but you have a Japanese name?" Uo stammered, "How does that make sense?"

And then it hit Tohru all at once. Those eyes. She remembered them now. On that beach, the girl with the eye patch. The red hair, the strangling, it all made sense now. Tohru tried to hold in the shock at this revelation, and but, rather slipped out of consciousness, falling through darkness, consumed entirely in oblivion.

When her eyes fluttered open again, she was lying on her bed, everyone at her bedside. Everyone, that is, save for that girl who had been there before, the German girl, Asuka. She glanced up at everyone, frowning, before sighing, "What happened?"

"You fainted," replied Yuki, "Kyo had to carry you in his arms all the way home."

"Oh, he did?" stammered Tohru, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be a burden. I'm sorry!"

"It wasn't a big deal," Kyo mumbled, glancing over at his knuckles.

"But—"

"Don't worry about him," Uo laughed, smirking in amusement, "He's just a big softie and doesn't want anyone to see it."

Tohru blushed.

"What the hell are you going on about, you blonde haired freak?" snapped Kyo, glaring hatefully at Uo.

Tohru blushed a deeper shade of red.

"I know you liked it."

Tohru was a supernova of blush.

"What the—"

"What happened to that girl? Asuka?" Tohru asked, anxiously.

"What do you mean what happened to her?" Uo asked, her attention deviated for the moment from Kyo, who had also forgotten his frustration at the sound of the German girl's name. "She's just getting some clothing on."

"So she's here?" Tohru asked.

"Yeah, in the house," Kyo replied, frowning.

"She has clothing with her?"

"Well, that's the thing," Yuki replied, frowning, "We had to lend her some of your—"

"_Gott im Himmel_!"

"Three guesses who that is," Uo mumbled, clearly frustrated by this point, "What is this, like the third time?"

"The fourth, to be exact," Yuki sighed.

"What do you mean?"

The door slammed open as Asuka darted into the room, her face red as she glared at Yuki. Tohru noted, mildly, that she was wearing one of her pink blouses, only it was rather ill fit. It wasn't that she was too short or too tall for it, but rather that her rather prominent bust was far too large for the shirt. The fabric was pulled against her breasts, to the point where Tohru was surprised that it fit at all.

"What's wrong this time?" Yuki asked, mildly annoyed.

"Well, aside from the fact that none of this clothing fits, everything's just fine and dandy," Asuka snapped.

"So what's wrong?" Kyo asked, frustrated.

"This is ridiculous! Whoever wore this must be one of the most flat-chested people I've ever met! You Japanese people really are underdeveloped."

"You're one to talk. Aren't you part Japanese?" Uo asked, aggressively.

"I don't need to explain to the likes of you!" Asuka snapped, "Besides, just whose clothing is this, anyway?"

"It was my mom's actually," Tohru replied, frowning.

Asuka's harsh expression softened for a moment. It almost appeared as though the energy she had harnessed inside of her body began to slowly slip out of her. A small glint of tears shone in the corners of her eyes for a moment before she blinked. Rubbing a knuckle along her cheek, passing it off as her scratching her face. Shaking her head, she mumbled, "So you're giving me hand-me-downs from your mom? Just what were you people thinking?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! Do you want me to get better clothing?" stammered Tohru, blushing.

"Are you just going to bend to what anyone wants the moment they complain?" Asuka stammered, shaking her head, "You're almost as bad as that idiot!"

"What idiot?" Tohru asked.

"The Third."

#

"I've never seen a woman actually drink that much beer," Shigure stammered, her eyes wide.

The purple haired woman was dumping drink after drink down her throat, through her lips. A large series of glass columns surrounded her position at the table as Hatori, Ayame, and Shigure all stared at her, amazed by just how much she was putting away. Trying to deviate the situation away from merely her ability to consume alcohol, Hatori asked gently, "So how old are you, anyway?"

"29."

"And just why were you so afraid, anyway? Before, I mean," Hatori asked as Ayame and Shigure stared in awe at the site of her alcohol consumption.

Lowering the cup from her lips, she sighed, anxiously. She dropped her gaze to Hatori's eyes, sighing, her lips curling into a frown. "I don't understand it all myself, so I hope you can just bare with me on this one."

"Fine. I have no problem suspending my disbelief," Hatori replied.

"By this point in time, I'm ready to believe whatever it is you have to say," Shigure added.

"And if that's what my Shigure is going to say, then I suppose I could lend an ear too," Ayame added, a grin on his lips.

Smiling awkwardly, the woman began. "In my world, I mean, where I came from, there was this horrible thing that happened called the Second Impact. Half of humanity was wiped out, and some bad things happened. Fifteen years later, these creatures called Angels reappeared. I was part of this organization called NERV that was supposed to stop the Angels using these gigantic robots called Evangelions. There were three main ones in total, and each had to be piloted by one of three children: Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Sohryu, and Shinji Ikari. The three of them fought against the Angels, but none of them really could realize how the higher ups in our organization had rigged everything. They intended to create a Third Impact by fusing the first two Angels, Adam and Lilith, and bring everyone into one collective being. I tried to stop it, but couldn't help them. I failed, but, after that, I don't know what happened. I don't know what's going on."

"I see," Hatori mumbled, "The story is fantastic, but I guess, if you truly emerged from another world—"

"So wait, you actually believe me?" the woman asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," Hatori replied, "There is no way that you could have possibly entered the Sohma compound without any clothing on. You would have been seen first."

"I see," the woman replied, scratching her cheek bashfully as blush filled her face.

"I suppose it might be a good idea to ask around to find these three children," Shigure replied, smiling slightly, "Rei, Asuka, and Shinji. I figure that it would be easy to find them."

"So just what is your name?" Ayame asked.

"It's Misato. Misato Katsuragi."


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

"I'm sorry, the Third?" Tohru didn't understand. The Third? The Third what? Was this a third person that they knew? Tohru counted in her brain. Rei Ayanami could be one, while this Asuka girl could be two. If that were true, then what was the Third? Glancing up at Asuka as she turned red for some reason or another, she asked, confused, "I'm sorry, but I really don't understand what you're talking about."

"The Third Child, you know, the pilot of Unit-01," Asuka replied, as though she were explaining high-level calculus to a mentally handicapped baby.

"Unit-01? What the hell is that?" Uo asked, confused.

"_Dummkopf_! I'm talking about Evangelion Unit-01! I mean, how many other Unit-01's are there?" Asuka asked, frustrated, "Jesus, you people are—"

"Evangelion? What's that? Can you eat it?" Kyo asked, off-handedly.

"Wait, what?" Asuka's face fell, her eyes wavering in their sockets. Turning to each of the people around her, she asked, raising her eyebrow, "You mean you've never heard of the Evangelions?"

"No, sorry," Yuki replied.

"But that's ridiculous!" Asuka stammered, running her fingers through her hair, "I mean, that doesn't make a damn bit of sense! The Evangelions are giant freaking robots! It's not like you can just miss a giant robot walking around the city, can you?"

"Uh, Asuka, do you have a family history of schizophrenia or something?" Uo asked, mildly confused. At that moment, Asuka turned around on her feet, and extended her hand. With a single swipe, she slammed her palm across Uo's cheek. She stumbled backward, but caught herself, her eyes narrowed furiously. "What the hell was that for?" Uo snapped, drawing her fist back. However, before she could deliver a punch to Asuka's skull, Kyo grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her arm back.

"Don't hit her," Kyo replied.

"What are you—?" Uo stammered, but was silenced by Asuka's next declaration.

"What? Are you trying to help me or something? I don't need your pity," Asuka snapped, turning around toward the door.

"Wait, Asuka!" Tohru rose from her bed, and darted after the redhead as she sprinted out of the room, toward the bathroom, only to slam the door behind her. Tohru stopped right at the edge of the door, anxiously staring at it. She wrapped her knuckles against it, only to whisper, "Can you open up for a second?"

"Why the hell should I?" the German shouted from the other end of the door, her voice muffled by the wood and, to Tohru's shock, tears.

"Is something wrong?" Tohru asked.

"Your mom's stupid shirts don't fit! That's the problem!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want me to try getting you better clothing? We can buy—"

"This is all just a bad dream, isn't it?"

Tohru felt her blood run cold in her veins. All a dream? All a false reality? Asuka was from Tohru's dream, so what if Tohru was in Asuka's dream? Perhaps the dream of the dream was reality? No, that was ridiculous. Asuka was probably in denial about something that was beyond Tohru's understanding. "I'm sorry, but I don't follow what you're saying."

"Of course you don't! You couldn't, could you?"

"I can if you'd explain a little more. I think I know something, though."

"Oh, let's hear what you have to say. I'm sure you'd come up with some really brilliant crap, won't you?"

"I know you know a girl named Rei Ayanami."

There was a moment of silence. At first, Tohru wondered whether or not Asuka was ignoring her, but her fears were quelled when the door to the bathroom slowly opened, Asuka staring at her from the crack in the door, a look of confusion in her eyes. "Let me get this straight: you don't know what an Evangelion is, but you know the name of that damn doll?"

"Doll?"

"What do you know about that bitch?" Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Very little. I saw her while I was in the bathroom. She appeared for a moment, and told me she may be a ghost, or something like that. Then she transformed into this white thing and crumbled away."

"A white thing?" Asuka asked, her pupil contracting with every word Tohru said.

"Yeah. I didn't know what to think. I just broke down and screamed. I was so terrified I didn't know what to do. If you can tell me anything about that girl, anything at all, please just let me know."

Tohru took a step back as Asuka opened the bathroom door, a frown on her lips. "Alright, I'll tell you, but on one condition."

"What's that?" Tohru asked.

"Tell me if you've ever heard of Second Impact."

"Second what?"

"That answers my question," Asuka replied, frowning, "This is a different universe."

A different universe? So she had come from another world? What was Second Impact? Was it that thing that she had seen in her dream, the image of destruction and death? A red ocean splashing against a dark beach? She followed Asuka as the duo explained to the others that they were going to buy clothing. The others bid her fair well, Uo praying to God for Tohru to return without killing Asuka so that she could have the pleasure of committing that sinful act. As she walked out the door, the redheaded German turned to her, a cautious expression on her face. "So why are you doing this for me?"

"What do you mean?" Did Tohru really need a reason or motivation to help someone out?

"What do you get out of helping me?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me," Asuka replied, her voice harsh, "I know no one would do something for someone else unless—"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Tohru replied, smiling a big, goofy grin.

Asuka struggled to say something, anything, but, in the end, frowned in resignation. "I don't believe this. Not a single damned word of it."

The two girls walked off toward a local shopping mall after trekking through the forest. All the while, Asuka complained, mostly to herself. "You people are living in the woods? You Japanese people really don't have any idea how to live. I mean, back in Germany—"

"Oh, you lived in Germany?" Tohru asked, surprised.

"_Dummkopf_," Asuka murmured to herself. Tohru didn't know what that meant, but supposed it must be some sort of way of saying "yes!" or "you bet!" in German.

"One of the Sohmas, Momiji, he's part German," Tohru continued.

"Really? Does he speak it?" Asuka asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, a little," Tohru replied, "But he's so sweet and kind! Today he found this doll that—" Tohru's voice trailed off as she watched Asuka's expression change suddenly. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilating, the color draining from her skin, small teary gems springing up from the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry, did something I say bother you?"

"It's nothing," Asuka replied, aggressively as she tried to control herself. Her pale skin, however, remained as colorless as ever even after the duo emerged from the forested area surrounding their home. Tohru could simply stare in confusion at her. What could possibly be so wrong about dolls that the mere mention of them would make the poor girl react so horribly? Surely something about them. Maybe she was afraid? Tohru remembered how she had referred to Rei as a doll, so maybe that was the reason.

"Are you afraid of dolls?" Tohru asked.

"I'm afraid of nothing!" Asuka snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Damn it, you're just like that stupid Shinji, always apologizing for what you do wrong! It's really getting on my nerves!"

"Shinji?" Tohru repeated, curious. After a moment's pause, perhaps ten seconds or so, she came to a startling epiphany. "Is he the Third you mentioned earlier?"

"Jesus, you catch on quickly," Asuka replied, sarcastically.

"So am I right?" Tohru asked, mildly offended.

"Yeah," Asuka replied with a nod, "He's the Third Child, pilot of Unit-01. He's such a stupid idiot, you know. What a moron." Tohru noticed, as she spoke, Asuka's face slowly filled with color, a slight shade of pink spreading across her cheeks, her lips curling slightly into a mildly bashful smile. However, as her eyes snapped back into focus, her smile disappeared, replaced with a stern expression, although the blush still painted her face red.

"You like him, don't you?" Tohru asked, sheepishly.

"What? Me liking that stupid idiot? What are you, stupid?" Asuka snapped, aggressively.

"So I'm wrong?" Tohru didn't mean to offend her like that. What if something really bad had happened between them and she had accidentally brought something up that really didn't need to be brought up? It was only then that she remembered the dream she had once again, the boy with mad eyes rising up, wrapping her fingers around broken Asuka's throat, squeezing her neck until she was blue. "Did Shinji ever hurt you?"

"What was that?"

"Did he ever hurt you? Like strangle you."

Asuka's eyes widened, her skin growing pale and anxious, before her pair of eyes narrowed into slits, her expression venomous. "What do you know about that stupid jerk? The damn pervert?"

"Pervert?"

"Damn it," Asuka snarled, her fist clenched, "You know what, let's just forget about that stupid bastard, alright?"

"Okay, if you say so." As the two girls reached the first store they could find that sold clothing, Tohru watched Asuka as she reached for every hanger within reach, every blouse, skirt, pair of jeans, shirt, pair of shoes, hat, whatever, all the while her expression venomous, embarrassed, and disgusted. Just what had gone on between those two children? Was there some kind of fight? Sure, the strangling part had something to do with it, surely, but there had to be more to it than that. Something much deeper that Tohru simply could not see beneath Asuka's harsh exterior. If only she could see into her heart and understand everything about her, perhaps then everything would be better for the poor redhead.

"I'm going to try these on. Wait for me," Asuka replied, taking the massive pile of clothing into a changing room as Tohru waited outside. Glancing into her pocket book, Tohru wondered if Asuka knew that Tohru only had enough money for only an eighth of the clothing she had picked out for herself. As she waited, she could hear the redhead grumbling to herself, snarling occasionally, and yet, Tohru could hear tears muffling some of her groaning.

"That stupid idiot, leaving me like that. He left me. He left me. That stupid idiot! Scheiße!"

After awhile, the red head left the changing room, a significantly smaller pile in her hands, but still more than Tohru could afford. "Hey, uh, Asuka?"

"What is it?"

"Well, how much does all that clothing cost?"

"I'm guessing a good 1,000,000 yen. Why?"

"I can only spend 50,000 yen."

"Only 50,000 yen!? What the hell!?" Asuka snapped.

"It's all the money I have!" Tohru stammered, anxiously.

"Wait, you mean you aren't using your parent's money?" Asuka asked.

"Well, I would, but my mom died last year," Tohru replied.

Asuka's eyes widened, her skin once again growing pale. "Oh, I see. I know how that feels, I guess."

"Is your mom—"

"Alright, let me put a few things down," Asuka interrupted, dumping the majority of her clothing on the floor of the changing room before turning to Tohru, holding a significantly smaller pile of clothing in her arms. "Alright, this should do it."

The final cost was 25,000 yen.

As the two walked away, Tohru heaving the back of clothing while Asuka walked onward, leading the group, Tohru staring at the back of her head. She was a rather peculiar girl. She prayed to God that she would just open up a little bit more. After all, Tohru could see years upon years of tears built up within her heart, a typhoon of anxiety filling her body, overflowing her system entirely. Maybe if—

"Wait a second," Asuka stammered, her eyes wide as she stared toward the trees as they neared the forested area beyond the Sohma house.

"What's wrong?" Tohru asked, curiously.

Asuka remained still, her eyes wide, her breathing irregular. After a few moments of staring, she darted forward, toward a shadow in the distance. Tohru reached out for her, her fingers slipping through her locks of scarlet hair. She darted off after her, but not fast enough. That girl was clearly faster than Tohru, no doubt the result of whatever training she had had piloting those big robots she mentioned before. After several seconds of sprinting, Asuka sharply stopped herself, staring at the area beneath a tree, her eyes wide with shock.

There, standing under the canopy of leaves, was a boy, about fourteen years of age, huddled up into a ball, brown hair covering her hair, repeating the same phrase over and over again: "I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore."

Asuka glared down at him, her fingers flexing aggressively. Reaching down for the child, she grabbed him by the hair, squeezing ever follicle as she pulled the boy to her feet, her eyes furious. "What the hell are you doing you stupid idiot?" She slammed her fist against the defenseless, naked child's face, slamming him against a tree as he stumbled onto his rear end, his eyes filling with tears.

"Asuka?" the boy stammered, staring up at the German.

"Who do you think, _dummkopft_? _Gott in Himmel_!"

"I'm sorry," the boy whispered, his eyes wide as tears filled them.

"Jesus, you—"

"Asuka? Shinji?"

The three children, Tohru, Asuka, and Shinji, turned around to see four oncoming figures. Shigure, Hatori, Ayame, and some woman Tohru didn't recognize. She had purple hair that fell to her rear, her eyes wide as she approached them, the cross around her neck reminding her instantly of that cross that had been nailed to the marker in her dream. Tears sprung up in her eyes as she took a few steps closer to them, holding herself back before diving at the two children, embracing them, holding them close to her bosom as she began to sob into their shoulders, uncontrollably.

"Misato…?" the boy, Shinji, stammered.

"Jesus, aren't you an adult?"

"What exactly is going on?" Tohru stammered, bewildered by what had just happened in the last thirty seconds.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

"Allow me to introduce our new guests, Tohru. This is Misato Katsuragi, and two of her wards: Asuka Langley Sohryu and Shinji Ikari," Shigure said, gesturing toward each of the now fully clothed newcomers.

Tohru gazed at these new people, who were seated next to the by now familiar Asuka, examining each one with a curious expression. Shinji, the boy whom Asuka had referred to as "The Third" was exactly as she remembered from her dreams. He had borrowed one of Yuki's old uniforms, a white button down shirt with dark pants, rather ordinary attire that suited him perfectly. His gaze was focused toward his feet, not looking up, as though he were too ashamed of something to even make eye contact with the others. On the other hand, Misato was gulping down a can of beer. Shigure watched helplessly as the purple haired woman drank down more of his money.

"That hits the spot," Misato sighed, "I'm sorry to your inconvenience, Shigure."

"Oh, not at all," Shigure replied, smiling, "You see, Misato and I are old friends who—"

"Oh, cut with the crap!" Kyo snapped, "We know damn well that you people never met the Sohmas in your life!"

By now, Uo and Hana had left at Shigure's request, a request that Uo had no problem complying with. "I'd rather not stay with that red-haired bitch much longer. Tohru, you have my sympathies," Uo had said while waving good-bye, "If you ever get too annoyed with her, you know where to call." Tohru didn't quite understand how Uo would help in a situation like that, but she felt it was a good thing she had such good friends by her side. Still, Tohru had no desire to do anything to the German girl. If anything, she was curious. As Misato and Shigure defended their claims that they did indeed know each other, much to the disbelief of the other Sohmas, Tohru glanced over at the two children who were, at the moment, separate from the rest of the table.

Shinji was huddled inward, his eyes covered by his bangs, which, with his head lowered, hung over his eyes. He didn't see Asuka glaring at him with such deep disgust, but he could certainly sense her loathing, her silent fury. Tohru was surprised that Asuka wasn't being vocal about her anger. She appeared to have no problem making a fuss about little things before. No, this felt like genuine anger, not some sort of superficial fury like before. Whatever Asuka felt towards Shinji, it was intense.

"Uh, Shinji, right?" Tohru spoke up, glancing at the huddled mass. At the sound of his name, he glanced up, his expression strained, his eyes watery yet not teary. "Uh, do you like the food?"

Tohru had cooked for them all, but, due to the large quantity of people popping up with such little notice, she didn't have enough time to really cook a lot of food. She had made chicken teriyaki along with broccoli and some rice. So far, he had barely touched it, despite both Asuka and Misato having devoured it hastily, along with the rest of the Sohmas. "Oh, it's good," Shinji replied in his soft voice.

"I'm glad you like it," Tohru replied, "I was afraid it wasn't all that good since you didn't seem to eat a lot of it."

"I'm sorry, it's just that I really don't feel all that much like eating."

"Why's that?"

There was a moment of silence, a period where Shinji simply stared down at the plate of food in front of him, while Asuka glared at him from the side. Finally, he said, in a soft, hollow voice, "It's personal."

Tohru fell back on that wasteland, on that world where Shinji sat on Asuka, strangling her with that dead expression on his face. Was that what he was upset about? The events leading up to that nightmarish abyss? Surely that must be it, that tragedy, that horror, that fear. Still, the comment Asuka made before, about Shinji being a pervert, made her curious. What did she mean by that? What could she mean by that? Surely there was a reason for why she'd just shout that before, right?

"Shinji, I don't mean to pry or anything like that, but do you know a girl by the name of Rei Ayanami?" Tohru asked. At that moment, the Third Child's head shot up, Asuka's glare flickered for a moment, and even Major Katsuragi gagged painfully on her beer.

"How do you know about Rei?" Mistao sputtered through her beer.

"Rei?" Yuki asked, intrigued, "Who's she?"

"Rei is, um, uh, well, that is to say—"

"She's a damn doll," Asuka interrupted, glancing at Misato as she frowned at her in disapproval.

"That's not necessarily true, Asuka," Misato replied, "She's just, um, well—"

"See? Even you can't deny that Wonder Girl is just a freaking robot!" Asuka snapped. Tohru made eye contact for a moment, only to see a mad glint in the German's eyes. "She's just a freak, a Goddamn stupid doll!"

"Asuka, stop it," Shinji replied, his voice soft but firm.

"Oh, so the invincible savior of the world is here to tell me to stop little me from badmouthing that stupid little bitch, huh? Because, after all, someone like me isn't strong enough, or stable enough, just to say what I want, huh? _Dummkopf_?" Asuka rose up in her seat, glaring down at the boy sitting at her side, before darting away, leaving him behind, but not before Tohru caught a hint of her eyes shimmering for a moment, blurred with tears she refused to shed. At the sight of her eyes, Tohru rose to her feet, only for Kyo to rise up at the same time.

"Tohru, let me handle this," Kyo replied, taking a few steps forward.

"Thanks Kyo, but still I think I should—"

"No, I should see her," Shinji replied, rising to his feet.

"Shinji," Misato sighed, partially in awe and partially anxious.

"I'm the one she's angry at, so I'll speak to her," sighed Shinji, "Of course, I completely deserve to be yelled at."

Tohru watched as Shinji walked away from the table, flexing away each of his fingers as he breathed anxiously in and out, his joints trembling. Tohru, in spite of herself, along with Kyo, rose up from their seats, and followed the Third Child as he walked up the stairway, following the sounds of the Second Child's ragged breathing, breathing that indicated to Shinji, perhaps, that she was furious, but to Tohru sounded like sobbing.

Shinji stood before the door of the bathroom, an anxious expression on his face, as Tohru and Kyo slunk around a corner, trying to stay out of the boy's eyes. He glanced this way and that as he said, in a soft gentle tone, "Asuka, please, I want to talk to you. I'm—I'm—I'm—"

"_Scheiße_! What the hell do you want? _Dummkopf_!" Asuka shouted from the other side of the door.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"Get hurt? Get hurt!? What the hell do you know about getting hurt? You did nothing! You just sat there like the coward you are and—and—you knew it was happening! Misato told me you were going to come, and you didn't! You just avoided me like a little pathetic spineless fool! And then you had the balls to move your Eva the moment they—they—they—well, you saw what they did to me! And you let it happen! We could have stopped everything, prevented it all from happening, but you stupid idiot! You let it happen! You let those damn monsters rip me and stab me and eat me and kill me!_ Scheiße_! _Dummkopf_! _Bumsen_!"

Tohru could only stare as dumbfound as Kyo at this declaration. Kill her? Had they been in a battle? A war? Eva? What did that mean? What could they be talking—Evangelion! They were referring to the Evangelion! Giant robots, according to Asuka. Had their giant robots been fighting? Asuka said they were piloting them, so she had probably been inside the robot when this fight was happening. She could imagine her giant robot being attacked by this hypothetical enemy, only for them to rip the robot to shreds, killing the girl. But if Asuka claimed she died, then why was she alive right now? How could she breath right here and now?

"Asuka, I—"

"And before even that, what you did over me when I couldn't even open my eyes while in that damn coma!" Asuka snapped from the other side of the door, her words slightly muffled by the moisture of tears, "You jerked off over me!"

"Kyo, what does that mean, exactly?" Tohru whispered, curiously.

"Don't worry about it," Kyo replied, anxiously.

"You just see me as a stupid little girl who can't do anything, don't you? You think you're so great just because you beat me at a few synch tests. What? Do you think I'm supposed to worship the Goddamn ground you walk on now that you're a little better than me, huh? I know now that you've saved the world and brought everyone back to life that you think you're just so special and so Goddamn amazing! Well, guess what, you little jerk, I hope you rot!"

Shinji's eyes filled with tears that rolled down his face as he slumped down, his hand running down the wooden door as he sobbed, gently. In a tone so desperate, a tone so needy, he whispered, pathetically, "Asuka—please, listen to me. I need to tell you what happened, why I couldn't save you, why—"

"Don't use any more Goddamn excuses you little ass!"

"Let him speak already." Kyo, clearly having enough of this argument, walked forward, Tohru in pursuit, dizzy as Shinji glanced over at her. Dizzy, of course, from terror. They were intruding on a private moment, and, while they had been eavesdropping before, now they were in the fray. This wasn't right. Surely someone like Misato would be more experienced at things like this, so why were they interfering? Tohru knew that she should probably talk to each individual separately and try to reconcile them, but Kyo seemed so passionate. He had a glint in his eye that showed just how determined he was, just how much he wanted to help the two children see eye-to-eye.

"Who is this?" snapped Asuka from the other side of the door.

"It's Kyo Sohma," Kyo answered, in a slightly frustrated yet restrained tone, "Listen, Asuka, Shinji here really is sorry for whatever happened to you, so—"

"And just how in the hell would you know? He's probably crying over there, isn't he? Like a little baby! A spineless little wimp! He's pathetic! So annoying! I hope he suffers just like I suffered thanks to him!"

"But Asuka, you don't hate him nearly as much as you say you do," Tohru replied, reassuringly.

"Oh, you too? Jesus! Who else is out there?"

"No one. Just us three," Tohru reassured her, "We were worried, and—"

"Like hell you were! You probably just wanted to know what was going on! You people don't give a damn about us!"

"If we didn't give a damn about you, you guys wouldn't be here," Kyo replied, "Rest assured of that."

"Oh, I'm sure! And you're siding with that stupid idiot the Third, aren't you? Just that stupid, spineless, cowardly—"

"Stop it!" Shinji shrieked, running his hands through his hair as the others fell silent. He trembled there for a moment before collapsing against the ground, trembling as he slowly cried to himself, his hands over his face, his finger tugging at his hair, as he whispered, in a wet, soft voice, "I hate seeing you this angry, so please, just stop it. Please, I want things to be as they were before, with you just yelling at me when I did something wrong, for you to just call me an idiot and then we go to school together side-by-side. Please, stop it."

A moment passed, maybe two, before Asuka whispered, in awe, "Shinji, what did you say to me just now?"

"To stop it! Please!" Shinji cried, weakly.

"No, the other part. About you actually hating to see me angry. Why? Are you just trying to run away from the problem here?"

"No, I don't like seeing you this upset. Really. It upsets me, it really does. I mean, you're always so strong, so confident. These last few months have been—I've barely been able to endure it. You're always sad, and you've been breaking down in front of me and I couldn't do anything to help! I felt so helpless, so unable to do anything to stop you from falling to pieces without hurting your pride. I was afraid that you'd just fall into yourself and never come back. And then after the incident with the 15th Angel, you died inside. I was afraid, I needed to help but couldn't do anything at all. When I—I did what I did to you, in the hospital, I didn't mean anything. I came asking you to wake up. I needed someone, anyone, to talk to. I just couldn't take it anymore. And then I did what I did to you, but I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to hurt you like that. I just wanted to die after what I did, to crawl up and disappear. I knew you'd kill me for something like that, I knew how hurt you were, but I did it anyway. I'm just so—so—fu—"

"Stop talking."

"Yes, Asuka."

"Just leave me alone for a little while, okay?"

"Yes, alright."

"I just need to be by myself for awhile. Please, don't talk to me."

Shinji was about to say "Okay" again, only to nod solemnly and back away from the door, folding his body into a fetal position, crying silently to himself. Kyo approached Shinji, only to scoop up his collar in his fist as he heaved him up to his feet, and dragged him into a room. Tohru darted after them, a worried expression in her eyes, only for Kyo to gesture for her to stay. "Listen, I need to talk to Shinji man-to-man. You stay with Asuka, alright?"

"Okay," Tohru replied as Kyo threw Shinji haphazardly into his own room before slamming the door shut on them.

#

"Alright, you little kid, I need you to listen for a few minutes," Kyo replied, sitting down on his bed as Shinji remained on the ground, motionless, "But first of all, stop crying! Real men don't cry."

"I'm trying, but you haven't seen everything I've seen," Shinji replied.

"I know," Kyo sighed, "You've seen Hell first hand."

"How do you know that?" Shinji replied.

"I had a dream last night that showed me something so horrible, so nightmarish, that even I couldn't stand it. It was so real, so vivid. I really can't say anything more about it. All I can say is that it scared me. I couldn't take it anymore after I woke up. I'm afraid that, if I go asleep again tonight, I'll have another dream like it."

"What happened?" Shinji asked.

Kyo shook his head as the image of a certain doll hanging by a noose reappeared in his mind's eye. "I'll need to talk to Asuka about it. But that's irrelevant. Listen, Shinji, did you and Asuka ever kiss?"

Shinji reluctantly pulled his legs into a folded position as he glanced up, an anxious expression in his eyes. "Yeah, once, but it wasn't really a kiss. She held my nose shut because my breath tickled her, and I really couldn't hold her or kiss her back because of it. She ran away, started gargling, acting all disgusted by kissing me even though she was the one who wanted to do it. I didn't want to, she just randomly asked me to do it. I don't know why or—"

"You can't be serious," Kyo laughed under his breath, "Isn't it obvious why she kissed you?"

"Usually people kiss when they like you, but she didn't seem to like me at all. All she ever does is yell at me, call me stupid, and—"

"Do you like her?" Kyo asked, "Be honest."

"Yes, I do," Shinji replied, his tears drying now as he brushed them aside on the back of his hand, "Even though she acts strong, I can tell that really, on the inside, we're the same. I saw this as she was breaking down, she started acting all depressed. One time, when I was trying to sleep, I heard her shouting at the top of her lungs, hitting everything she could find in the bathroom. I couldn't hear much, and I didn't think I could help, but I do know that she said something about hating herself."

"She hates herself? I know, she really does," Kyo sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Just like me."

"What's that?" Shinji asked, curiously.

"Listen: do you want Asuka to be the way she was before?"

"Yeah?"

"Then listen to what I have to say very carefully. I have a plan to help her, but I need your help. There are a few things you need to do at the right time. Too fast and she'll hate you, too slow and she'll hate you. She's very sensitive like that, even if she doesn't like to show it. We just need to make her see the real her."

"What do you want me to do?"

#

"Hey, uh, Asuka?" Tohru asked, wrapping her knuckles against the bathroom door.

"Leave me alone," she replied, her voice wet, "Please, just leave me alone."

"Listen, I just want you to know that, if you saw how Shinji was outside, you'd know he didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sure of it. He seems to deeply regret what he did to you, and even though I really don't understand anything that happened since you lived in another world and all, I'm grateful that—"

"Remember how before you asked me about Rei?" Asuka asked.

A change in subject? Was Asuka afraid of Tohru going any deeper into her shell? There was no point digging deeper if Asuka didn't want a hole to be dug. With a melancholy smile, Tohru nodded. "Yeah?"

"Did I ever tell you?"

"No, you didn't."

"Do you still want to know? About that damn doll?"

"Not right now. I'd rather know about you."

"_Dummkopf_." The way she said that word in German, it almost sounded warm.


End file.
